Farmington Special-ed Fund $100,000 Short

Official Says Needs Are Hard To Predict

FARMINGTON — Faced with unanticipated expenses, the school district has a nearly $100,000 overrun in its special-education accounts with the fiscal year only at its midpoint.

Superintendent of Schools Robert Villanova said Friday that tuition, transportation and legal costs for special-education students have combined to exceed the budgeted amounts.

The town council has been informed of the shortfall and the situation will be monitored. Should the school system end the fiscal year with a deficit, it would have to get an appropriation from the town to balance its books, he said.

A similar situation occurred last fiscal year. The school district ended the 1995-96 fiscal year with a nearly $90,000 deficit, which the council covered with an appropriation from surplus. That deficit was also due largely to special education.

Villanova said it is hard to predict how the district will end the current fiscal year on June 30. The shortfall could increase, or possible savings from other accounts could offset or even cover the cost overrun.

Budgeting for special education is always difficult because the number of students can, and often does, change after the budget has been adopted. That situation occurred this year. The school system is paying out-of- town tuition costs for six more students than anticipated, he said. That alone has meant a cost overrun of nearly $60,000.

``You really cannot forecast some of these needs,'' Villanova said of the special-education budget. ``It's a very complicated area to predict.''

There are currently about 270 students within the district who have some type of special-education need. About 15 of those students are educated outside of Farmington.

School board member Alan Sibarium agreed it is difficult to budget for special education, but said the board needs to look at budgeting more money in the future so the shortfalls do not continue.

``We should do a better job of projecting what we need,'' he said. ``This is one of the few areas where I believe we are underfunded.''

During the last fiscal year, the district faced a budget shortfall of $178,400 due primarily to an overrun in special education and also to transportation costs not involving special education. A portion of that amount was offset by savings in other school accounts, leaving the district with a $90,000 deficit.

Should the district end the current fiscal year with a deficit, it would have to turn to the town council. Money would most likely come from the surplus, which has a balance of over $3.3 million, said town Finance Director Daniel Costello.